Thursday, November 15, 2012
I hate to admit it, but I'm more than a little worried we may have bitten off more than we can chew. I'm currently sitting in our kitchen, amid a mess of objects from the sun porch, as we scurry to decorate the room at warp speed in time for Alexandria's Holiday Designer Tour of Homes on December 1. Let's face it, we all know Alex and I don't do well with renovation deadlines.
We have curtains partially installed, but in need of hemming. Our walls are barren and devoid of any art. Atop our brass Asian table sits a dated silver lamp, completely the wrong size and finish for the location., and the list goes on and on!
In the basement sits a chair that once belonged to my great grandfather.
Currently it's in pieces, as years ago we disassembled it in order to better sand and restore it. It's this same chair that we hope to have fully restored, and nestled in the corner of the sun porch in just two short weeks.
With a mere 16 days to go, I'm looking around the house trying to see our home as a first time visitor may. The things I'm seeing are scaring me. I mean, why on earth did we stop stripping our dining room door jamb nearly a decade ago, and think it was okay to leave it in its current state?
Why did Alex feel the need to scrape a portion of the transom window in our kitchen, you know, "to see how hard it would be to strip the paint," and yet it's sat unpainted and in a state of identity crisis for years.
The summer brought with it hoards of spiders, and now that the spider population has thinned out in the cold weather, they've left gross spider "spots" under the eaves of our house. Alex gave it a go this weekend, and promptly pronounced spider poop removal to be at least a two hour job, better reserved for another day.
We even have mismatched and not fully functional Smarthome switches that are missing switch plate covers. Oh no, that's not gonna fly.
I'm feeling completely overwhelmed, bordering on having a nervous breakdown. I'm going to be honest here. There's been screaming (by a psycho blonde in our house that I've never seen before). And given the day is young, we might even be able to work in a couple thrown objects and perhaps (if we're lucky) a tear or two.
We'll be keeping it real, folks. If you want to see all the behind the scenes drama that is going in to our preparations for the event, you'll find it here. And if you'll be in the Alexandria/Washington, DC area on December 1, don't forget to enter to win two free tickets to the home tour so you can see the "after" in person.
In all actuality, I'm going to go ahead and tell myself that I'm actually quite confident our home will look beautiful come December 1. But I also am rather certain I'll be a raving lunatic until that day comes. My poor, poor husband. Anyone want to offer up a room, so he, Mel and Lulu can make a getaway? I think I just need to remember that we're our own worst critics. (Do you notice, this is me trying to act calm...but I'm still freaking out.)
Have you ever put yourself and your family into a time crunch when it comes to home projects? I feel like it may be the thing that spurs us to actually get some things accomplished in a timely manner, but it's rather hectic getting there. I'd love to hear any similar experiences to know I'm not alone.
